Expansion joint for road works

ABSTRACT

A concrete roadway having a joint between adjacent sections is provided with two plates, one secured upon each section, at the ends. The plates have interdigitating fingers to carry traffic over the joint. The plates are so tightly secured to the concrete by bolting that they remain in compression even when traffic is passing over the joint.

United States Patent Wattiez 51 July 18,1972

[54] EXPANSION JOINT FOR ROAD WORKS [72] Inventor: Gerard Charles LucienWattlu, La Celle Saint Cloud, France 73 I Assigneei Compagnielndustr'lelle de Precontralnte a dEquipment des Constructions(C.1.P.E.C.), Asnieres, France 221 Filed: May 25, 1970 211 Appl.No.:40,199

[52] 11.8. 1 94/18 [51] Int. Cl. fllc 11/10 [58] FieldolSear-ch ..94/18,17; 14/16 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,165,987 l/l965Hirst ..94/18 1,978,283 10/1934 Rew ..94/18 2,181,018 11/1939 Hughes..94/18 3,165,986 1/1965 Hirst ..94/18 3,316,574 5/1967 Pare .94/18 X3,372,521 3/1968- Thom ..94/1 8 X 3,387,544 6/1968 MacLellan ..94/1 8FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,174,817 7/1964 Germany ..14/16 PrimaryExaminer-Nile C. Byers, Jr. Attorney-Cushman, Darby & Cushman ABSTRACT Aconcrete roadway having a joint between adjacent sections is providedwith two plates, one secured upon each section, at the ends. The plateshave interdigitating fingers to carry traffic over the joint. The platesare so tightly secured to the concrete by bolting that they remain incompression even when traffic is passing over the joint.

9 Cllilm, 3 Drawing figures PAIENTEDJUL18 m2 3,677,145

sum 1 OF 3 INVE NTOR F I? i \N m m & m 3 M G-RARb cumuss .LvaEN wane;

BY AQW, Owl-mam ATTORNEYS EXPANSION JOINT FOR ROAD WORKS FIELD OF THEINVENTION The invention relates to an expansion joint for roadways suchas bridge roadways, comprising sections of concrete laid end to end soas to have small gaps between ends of concrete sections at the joints.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION One purpose of the invention is providing anexpansion joint making it possible to assure the continuity of the roadfrom one section of concrete to the next for the passage of vehicles.More particularly, the invention provides such an expansion joint thatis inexpensive to make, easy to lay and small in size, while assuringexcellent attachment of the joint to the sections of road so as tominimize the effect of repeated passage of vehicles over the joint.

The invention has for an object, an expansion joint for roads such as,but not limited to, bridge roadways, comprising two metal elements, eachcarried by one of the two adjacent sections of the road whose two endsface each other, each of the metal elements comprising a plurality ofteeth arranged side by side, extending in cantilevered fashion, fromsaid element, toward the other element and going into the spacesseparating the corresponding teeth of said other element, a support forsaid teeth forming with said teeth a single metal piece, a lower supportface that is fairly planar to rest on a part of said portion of the roadsupporting said element, and attachment means, comprising at least a rodthat is fairly perpendicular to said support face and carries at one ofits ends a means of attachment onto said element and on its other end ameans of attachment on to said portion of the road supporting saidelement, at least one of said attachment means being movable along saidrod and working with a member making it possible to pull it with apredetermined force in the direction of the other of said attachmentmeans.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The invention will now be explainedmore in detail with the aid of the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a joint according to theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the joint of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view, similar to FIG. 1, of amodification of the joint of the invention.

Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2, the expansion joint representedcomprises two metal parts 1 and 2 carried respectively by two sections 3and 4 of the concrete roadway whose ends 5 and 6 face one another. (Theconcrete roadway is shown surfaced with a conventional road surfacingagent, e.g. macadam.) Each of the two metal elements comprises a support 7, or 8, from which there extend in the direction of the end of thecorresponding portion of the work, parallel, elongated teeth 9 or 10.These teeth extend along a plane parallel to the upper face of portions5 and 6 on which the road surface is placed. The teeth 9 and 10interdigitate, as can be seen in the figure, teeth 9 going into thespaces separating teeth 10 from one another. These teeth form, with thesupport, which they extend across a single metal piece resembling a combthat can be made of steel, a weather-resisting light metal alloy or thelike.

Each of the metal elements 1 and 2 rests on portion 5 or 6 by a fairlyplanar lower support face comprising, for element 1, the lower face 11of support 7 and the lower face of a metal plate 12 which is locatedunder the part of teeth 9 which is not overhanging in relation to end 5or portion 3. Between portion 5, on the one hand, and support 7 andplate 12, on the other hand, is placed a mortar bed 13. Of course,element 2 is made in the same way and its lower face 14 and the lowerface of a plate 15, rest on a mortar bed 16 laid on portion 4. As can beseen in FIG. 1, ends 17 and 18 of teeth 9 and 10 have their upper edgealigned with the upper edges of the bases of teeth 9 and 10, of supports7 and 2 and the roadway. On the other hand; thavertical height of theends of teeth 17 and 18 is small in comparison with the vertical heightof said teeth at their base, so that at the time of bringing portions 3and 4 together, end 17 of a tooth 9 can slide horizontally above plate15, while end 18 of tooth 10 can move in an identical way above plate12. Thus, a great support surface is obtained for elements 1 and 2,associated with a considerable path due to the length of teeth such as 9and 10, without supports 1 or 2 ofthe teeth being large.

Attachment of element 1 on portion 3 is performed by means of rods 19fairly perpendicular to support face 1 l and going into said portion.These rods 19 can, for example, be inserted in orifices made by pipes 20which assure the formation of the orifice at the time the concrete iscast. The lower end of rod 19 is screwed into a force distributing piece21 including an annular flange 22, but which could also be in the shapeof a truncated cone, the small base of the frustum of the cone beinglocated on the side of support 7. This piece 21 makes it possible tosecure the rod in portion 3. The other end of rod 19 can receive anelement such as a nut 23 which can rest on support 7 by means of awasher 24 and which-acts as an element for attachment on element 1. Itcan be seen that by tightening nut 23 or threaded rod 19, it is possibleto lock the lower support face, made up of support 7 and plate 12, withsuch a force that the passage of the vehicle wheels over the overhangingends 17 of teeth 9 creates in the rest of the parts making up the jointonly a reduction of the compression forces exerted by the tension of rod19. Thus is avoided the mechanical fatigue due to the alternatingcompression and traction forces which occur in the joints of the priorart. Moreover, the prestressing created in the concrete of portion 3because of the tightening of nut 23 makes it possible to involve agreater mass of concrete in the attachment of element 1.

Of course, instead of being buried in portion 3, head 21 could rest onthe lower face of the portion through which rod 19 would pass all theway through. In such case, head 21 could also be replaced by a nutworking with a washer such as 24. Of course, elements other than nutscould be used to pull the support with predetermined force towardportion 3.

Referring now to FIG. 3, an embodiment is shown which is intended forjoining two portions 3 and 4 that are relatively close together.Elements 1 and 2 include teeth 25 and 26 which are not so elongated asare the teeth in the preceding example. The shape of teeth 25 and 26,looked at from above, can be, for example, equilaterally triangular.Between the two elements 1 and 2 is placed a compressible fluid-tightfitting 27, preferably made of a shape of hollow extruded elastomerpresenting at least a lengthwise interior cavity so as to permit, at thetime of bringing elements 1 and 2 together, the horizontal edges of thisfluid-tight fitting 27 to be deformed in the direction of said cavity.Thus, at the time of compression of the fitting, the size of the fittingneed not increase in the direction perpendicular to that of thecompression. Fitting 27 is preferably adhered to the elements 1 and 2,which may be roughened where the adhering is to take place. A suitableadhesive is used. Shorter teeth 28, 29, can be provided in elements 1and 2, below teeth 25 and 26 to form with them a sort of cage in whichfitting 27 is captive.

Between element 1 and portion 3, on the one hand, element 2 and portion4, on the other hand, is inserted, before mounting of the expansionjoint, a sheet 30 of flexible plastic material which includes a centralfree part 31 placed under teeth 25 and 26. This free part 31 forms afold under the action of the weight. Sheet 30 thus makes it possible toprevent moisture from coming in between the ends of portions 3 and 4.

It should now be apparent that the expansion joint for road works asdescribed hereinabove possesses each of the attributes set forth in thespecification under the heading Summary of the Invention" hereinbefore.Because the expansion joint for road works of the invention can bemodified to some extent without departing from the principles of theinvention as they have been outlined and explained in thisspecification, the present invention should be understood asencompassing all such modifications as are within the spirit and scopeof the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. For carrying traffic over the gap between ends of two adjacentconcrete sections of a road, an expansion joint comprising:

two metal elements, each including a support for extension upon one endof one section and a plurality of teeth extending in one directionlaterally from the support for traversing the gap, said teeth beingspaced from one another along said support, the ends of said teethhaving their upper edge substantially aligned with (l) the upper edge ofthe bases thereof, (2) said support and (3) the road; each supporthaving means defining a generally planar lower support face forsupporting the support on the respective section end; means defining atleast one opening through the support and through the support face; andmeans for securing the two metal elements upon the ends of therespective adjacent sections, so that the teeth of the two metalelements are interdigitated; the securing means for each metal elementcomprising: at least one rod extending generally perpendicular to saidsupport face, means engageable with the section for anchoring the lowerportion of the rod against upward movement with respect to the section;said rod, above said anchoring means extending up through said openingmeans; and vertically adjustable securement means on said rod above saidopening means tightenable, in combination with the anchoring means, toprovide such compressive force on said supports that when vehiculartraffic passes over the joint a reduction in compression, but not analternation between compression and tension, is created in saidsupports.

2. The expansion joint of claim 1 wherein said teeth are elongated.

3. The expansion joint of claim 2 further including, for each metalelement, a plate underlying the bases of the teeth thereof, said platebeing secured to said teeth and said support face extending onto saidplate.

4. The expansion joint of claim 2 wherein said teeth decrease invertical height as said teeth extend from the respective supports.

5. The expansion joint of claim 1 wherein said supports. are spaced fromone another and engagingly receive between them, below said teeth atubular extrusion of flexible material, said extrusion being compressedbetween said supports.

6. The expansion joint of claim 5 wherein said supports, where theyengage said extrusion are roughened; and further including adhesivemeans securing the extrusion to the roughened portions of said supports.

7. The expansion joint of claim 1 wherein the upper ends of the rods arethreaded and the adjustable securement means comprise nuts threadable onthe threaded upper ends of the rods; and further including a washerinterposed between each nut and each respective support.

8. The expansion joint of claim 7 further including a tubular pipe foreach rod, each tubular pipe being arranged to be cast into the concrete,receive the respective rod and have the upper and lower ends of the rodprotrude therefrom; the anchoring means comprising an annular flange oneach rod exposed below the respective tubular pipe.

9. The expansion joint of claim 1 further comprising a sheet of flexibleplastic material underlying the support faces of both metal elements andhaving sufficient slack to hang in a fold in the gap.

* i i l

1. For carrying traffic over the gap between ends of two adjacentconcrete sections of a road, an expansion joint comprising: two metalelements, each including a support for extension upon one end of onesection and a plurality of teeth extending in one direction laterallyfrom the support for traversing the gap, said teeth being spaced fromone another along said support, the ends of said teeth having theirupper edge substantially aligned with (1) the upper edge of the basesthereof, (2) said support and (3) the road; each support having meansdefining a generally planar lower support face for supporting thesupport on the respective section end; means defining at least oneopening through the support and through the support face; and means forsecuring the two metal elements upon the ends of the respective adjacentsections, so that the teeth of the two metal elements areinterdigitated; the securing means for each metal element comprising: atleast one rod extending generally perpendicular to said support face,means engageable with the section for anchoring the lower portion of therod against upward movement with respect to the section; said rod, abovesaid anchoring means extending up through said opening means; andvertically adjustable securement means on said rod above said openingmeans tightenable, in combination with the anchoring means, to providesuch compressive force on said supports that when vehicular trafficpasses over the joint a reduction in compression, but not an alternationbetween compression and tension, is created in said supports.
 2. Theexpansion joint of claim 1 wherein said teeth are elongated.
 3. Theexpansion joint of claim 2 further including, for each metal element, aplate underlying the bases of the teeth thereof, said plate beingsecured to said teeth and said support face extending onto said plate.4. The expansion joint of claim 2 wherein said teeth decrease invertical height as said teeth extend from the respective supports. 5.The expansion joint of claim 1 wherein said supports are spaced from oneanother and engagingly receive between them, below said teeth a tubularextrusion of flexible material, said extrusion being compressed betweensaid supports.
 6. The expansion joint of claim 5 wherein said supports,where they engage said extrusion are roughened; and further includingadhesive means securing the extrusion to the roughened portions of saidsupports.
 7. The expansion joint Of claim 1 wherein the upper ends ofthe rods are threaded and the adjustable securement means comprise nutsthreadable on the threaded upper ends of the rods; and further includinga washer interposed between each nut and each respective support.
 8. Theexpansion joint of claim 7 further including a tubular pipe for eachrod, each tubular pipe being arranged to be cast into the concrete,receive the respective rod and have the upper and lower ends of the rodprotrude therefrom; the anchoring means comprising an annular flange oneach rod exposed below the respective tubular pipe.
 9. The expansionjoint of claim 1 further comprising a sheet of flexible plastic materialunderlying the support faces of both metal elements and havingsufficient slack to hang in a fold in the gap.